Image deploment on different PC

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hsvhel

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#166181 5-Mar-2015 09:17

Hi Team
Looking for a bit of advice around deploying an image on a different model PC than it was originally taken.
Can this be done?

Total noob around this sort of thing.

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surfisup1000

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#1251534 5-Mar-2015 09:31

It might work, and I don't think anyone can really give you an answer without further information.

What is your windows license? Often microsoft ties the installation to the machine and will only allow installation again if the machine needs a new motherboard due to breakdown.

Also, the new machine must have the same AHCI setting and bios type (UEFI or non-UEFI) as the olde machine. I believe you can get around the AHCI incompatibilities (the machine will BSOD on boot if different) but I'm not sure about UEFI differences.

Then, you need to sort out the drivers for the new machine.

Better just to reinstall windows if possible.

Oblivian

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#1251536 5-Mar-2015 09:37

With a lot of prep work if it can be done.

Get all required drivers for new system ready, create an unattended with the path for said drivers as a pointer, run sysprep on original system and take image then

Slap on new system and the core drivers will be flushed and re-detected/installed.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/135077-windows-7-installation-transfer-new-computer.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/319903-windows-7-image-customize-audit-mode-sysprep.html

Theres a few gun-ho methods also, like removing the main ACPI system drivers before shutting down and restarting in the new hardware

xpd

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#1251537 5-Mar-2015 09:38

In theory yes, but expect lots of issues with drivers etc if the hardware is quite different. Would end up being faster to do a fresh install....

What sort of image do you have - is it being deployed via SCCM/Windows Deployment or similar, or is it just a Ghost/Reflect image ? If its SCCM/WDS , then you can inject different drivers
into the image.

XPD / Gavin

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hsvhel

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#1251539 5-Mar-2015 09:39

OK
Thanks, for background its for a program that I cannot get anymore due to the company no longer supplying it.
We have it bundled in a deployment image we used to use across a standard install base of PC's (again, they're long gone). Only need 1 program from this total image.

Thought it might be a long shot with differing hardware between the original system and the PC I have as a doner.
Thanks for your input

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hsvhel

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#1251544 5-Mar-2015 09:43

xpd: In theory yes, but expect lots of issues with drivers etc if the hardware is quite different. Would end up being faster to do a fresh install....

What sort of image do you have - is it being deployed via SCCM/Windows Deployment or similar, or is it just a Ghost/Reflect image ? If its SCCM/WDS , then you can inject different drivers
into the image.

Thanks xpd. The PC is not required to do day to day tasks, just run 1 program in a test environment to keep me current on remembering how to use it properly.
Its a custom built program, not something I can download or obtain anymore, which is a pain.
Will have a play, if it works great, if not, oh well I suppose!!

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lxsw20

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#1251545 5-Mar-2015 09:56

Is this a work thing? Have you got a virtual environment you could P2V it to?

Shadow Protect IT Edition can do a hardware independent restore, but you would probably have to take it to someone with a Shadow Protect licence to get it done.

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hsvhel

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#1251547 5-Mar-2015 10:02

lxsw20: Is this a work thing? Have you got a virtual environment you could P2V it to?

Shadow Protect IT Edition can do a hardware independent restore, but you would probably have to take it to someone with a Shadow Protect licence to get it done.

Yeah, its a work program.
I'm going to have a play with it and see what I can come up with. Have used images before, but not come across this issue until now!
Joys of being a lone soldier in NZ with older equipment I suppose
Thanks for the recommendations though lxsw20

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1101

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#1251555 5-Mar-2015 10:42

Quite often, its just works regardless, you only need to install some drivers afterwards.
Try & get a motherboard with the same brand of system chipset & same brand of CPU (ie , Intel based, or AMD based)

But if it doesnt work & win wont load/crashes hangs...
Paragon have free software just for this, a bootable CD that will 'fix' the image after its loaded on the newer PC
I have used it sucessfully several times. I thinks its this one
http://www.paragon-software.com/home/rk-free/

You will have to re-activate Windows . Thats no big deal.

Glassboy

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#1251587 5-Mar-2015 11:39

hsvhel:
lxsw20: Is this a work thing? Have you got a virtual environment you could P2V it to?

Shadow Protect IT Edition can do a hardware independent restore, but you would probably have to take it to someone with a Shadow Protect licence to get it done.

Yeah, its a work program.
I'm going to have a play with it and see what I can come up with. Have used images before, but not come across this issue until now!
Joys of being a lone soldier in NZ with older equipment I suppose
Thanks for the recommendations though lxsw20

Instead of installing it on hardware, why don't you use Microsoft virtual PC or VMware player?

richrdh18

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#1251600 5-Mar-2015 12:14

Yep it can be done, Acronis has a process that allows you to re-image to a pc of a different hardware make up.
You still need to get whatever new hardware drivers etc, but the Acronis stops windows for coming up with loads of incompatibility errors.

hsvhel

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#1252047 6-Mar-2015 08:24

Glassboy:
hsvhel:
lxsw20: Is this a work thing? Have you got a virtual environment you could P2V it to?

Shadow Protect IT Edition can do a hardware independent restore, but you would probably have to take it to someone with a Shadow Protect licence to get it done.

Yeah, its a work program.
I'm going to have a play with it and see what I can come up with. Have used images before, but not come across this issue until now!
Joys of being a lone soldier in NZ with older equipment I suppose
Thanks for the recommendations though lxsw20

Instead of installing it on hardware, why don't you use Microsoft virtual PC or VMware player?

How would I get around the hardware still being physically different?
would I not see the same computability issues?

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Glassboy

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#1252191 6-Mar-2015 11:21

hsvhel:
Glassboy:
hsvhel:
lxsw20: Is this a work thing? Have you got a virtual environment you could P2V it to?

Shadow Protect IT Edition can do a hardware independent restore, but you would probably have to take it to someone with a Shadow Protect licence to get it done.

Yeah, its a work program.
I'm going to have a play with it and see what I can come up with. Have used images before, but not come across this issue until now!
Joys of being a lone soldier in NZ with older equipment I suppose
Thanks for the recommendations though lxsw20

Instead of installing it on hardware, why don't you use Microsoft virtual PC or VMware player?

How would I get around the hardware still being physically different?
would I not see the same computability issues?

If you deploy an image built for one model of PC on another model, it only has problems when the hardware detection routines can't find drivers for the hardware. There's a few edge cases where this isn't true but it is in general. Hypervisors present very "vanilla" underlying hardware. Unless you're going back to a truly ancient image, the drivers for the "vanilla" should all be in the built in O/S hardware support.

In the past I've used Virtual PC to pull people's older images apart, slipstream in new drivers, and then re-image for new PCs.

linw

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#1252574 7-Mar-2015 08:52

What have you got to lose by trying it? I have certainly had success by doing it. Windows is pretty darn good at finding the right drivers. Even an old Vista install did a great job of sorting itself out on new hardware.

Good luck!

linw

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#1252575 7-Mar-2015 08:53

What have you got to lose by trying it? I have certainly had success by doing it. Windows is pretty darn good at finding the right drivers. Even an old Vista image did a great job of sorting itself out on new hardware.

Good luck!

benchit

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#1264309 20-Mar-2015 20:38

I've had similar instances like this with legacy software no longer supported/developer gone AWOL.

Definitely P2V this machine as a first measure. Purely for backup, but also if you plan to run this into the future as a VM.

If you have in production ESXi you could move this to, then do it but maybe put the new host on a seperate VLAN for dev/testing or Standalone VM or;
If your a Citrix fan and have Citrix available in your workplace, you could look at recompiling this (depending on it's code and other factors) and injecting into Citrix purely as App.

My views are not necessarily that of any of my clients and/or employer/s.